Thomas “Tommy Salami” Pluck hit the hardboiled fiction scene online like a Tasmanian Devil a couple of years back, taking a bite out of every venue in reach. I knew him best for his hysterical productivity and...

America has always been crazy about serial killers. They’re our homegrown werewolves. They click with the fast-food car culture that roars in the country’s busy, busy heart. They fit neatly with our cult-of-celebrity-style national mythology. These beasts...

You know how it goes with the collective consciousness in Tinseltown. An executive is sitting around the 6th Street Cafe on Montana, and gets an idea. Simultaneously, up PCH in the shower of a Malibu stilt-house, another...

Somewhere on the fringe of mainstream film, there’s a frenzied community of artists who illustrate an elemental aspect of crime. They don’t bother with the ticky-tack trivia of the procedural. They don’t focus on the grand fables...

I first heard about David Ayer when my family insisted that I not see his film. This was back in ’01, and the film was a gangland grotesque that was drawing critical buzz like a carcass draws...

On the occasion of the Emmys’ passing, let’s take a step outside the spotlight. I want to lead you to the fringes for a moment. You need to meet an artist who has yet to hold a...

What’s the most a criminal’s ever taken from you? Many of you just answered “none” or “not much, but that cell phone had precious memories on it.”  Some thought, “my sense of security.” A few of you...

Much like most of the civilized world, I knew what yesterday meant: The premiere of Sons of Anarchy, Season 5. I was pretty jazzed. I would DVR that bad bastard and catch it when convenience struck. Or,...

Take an inside line from a pro marketer: All marketing is a scam. That isn’t to say there’s no truth in advertising. Objective facts have their place. But to some extent, you’ve got to lay on the...

To paraphrase the great Michael Keaton, “You want to get nuts, Crime Heads? Let’s get nuts.” By which I mean, of course, let’s talk true crime. Now you may be thinking, “How is non-fiction nuttier than the...